Sims, Margaret

Calder, Pamela

Moloney, Mary

Rothe, Antje

Rogers, Marg

Doan, Laura

Kakana, Domna

Georgiadou, Sofia

2022-09-24

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to examine the initial policies developed by Australian, Canadian, English, German, Greek and Irish governments to limit the spread of the virus. This has revealed governments' conceptualisation of the early childhood sector and its workforce. This paper argues that neoliberal ideology and neoliberal imaginaries have already influenced the early childhood sector globally. During the pandemic, the choices that governments made at the outset of the pandemic has allowed their priorities and underlying ideology to be more transparent. Using an ethnographic methodology, early childhood researchers from each of the six countries, examined their individual governments policy responses and the effects on the early childhood sector during its initial months (between March and June 2020). The authors consider the extent to which this may have implications for the sector in how it should continue its ongoing pursuit of professionalisation of the sector.

Issues in Educational Research, 32(3), p. 1174-1195

1837-6290

0313-7155

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/53670

en

Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc

Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Neoliberalism and government responses to Covid-19: Ramifications for early childhood education and care

Journal Article

Publication